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What if Prince Charles used Twitter?

The recent BBC documentary on Prince Charles at 60 spoke of his hand written 'black spider' memos full of questions and ideas that were fired of into the ether of secretaries and ministers for response. What is Prince Charles were to fire these questions and ideas off into Twitter instead. I'm sure he would certainly get a satisfyingly large and fast response and he might find it more effective at promoting his ideas than the civil service?

FT this weekend 15th November 2008

Companies feel chill as trade credit insurance dries up

Companies that provide insurance against bad debts are reducing their cover - in one example from 90% to 60%. Other companies, such as Atradius, are withdrawing cover for whole counties and that list includes Ireland. As Ireland is so keen on leading the way with gaurantees, maybe we could lead the way by guaranteeing payment for all goods and services bought from Ireland?


G20 heads forced to temper ambition

The focus of the article is on how we are likely to regulate the banks in future and a process for introducing new regulations. This feels like closing the door after the horse has bolted. I know at some point in the future the door will need to close, bit isn't the priority to find the horse? Then we need to get a headcollar on him, maybe by tempting him with a bucket of feed, and then we can, hopefully, get him back into the stable...

Doubt cast on funds for Beijing boost

I have been asked all kinds of people over the last few years how dependant on exports they thought China was. If there was a slowdown in the US and Europe, would it significantly effect China. I got unsatisfactory answers, usually along the lines of "I don't know". A few felt China would continue to grow regardlesss of what else happened in the world.

Well to get the full answer, we are going to have to wait. China is still growing but at much lower levels than expected. It would seem that our global economy is so intertwined that nobody is recession proof.


Good Question Ma'am. But some people did see it coming

The Queen asked Luis Garicano of the London School of Economics "If these things were so large, how come everyone missed them?". Well some did, writes Alan Beattie in an entertaining reply to the Queen. "It gets dangerous when you treat economists as court necromancers, listening only to the ones you find congenial".

Idea for Car Dealer

I have great sympathy for all those car dealers who are looking at forecourts full of unwanted cars. Well here is an idea for you. Get a dealership for electric cars and learn how to service them and offer this package: You buy an electric car from us and you get free membership of our car pool. Anytime you want a larger car just park your electric car here and we'll put it on charge for you and you can pay by the mile (sorry, kilometer) from a choice of any of this range of cars. If the car pool gets popular, you can offer to take cars in part exchange if they are suitable for the pool, and offer the pool service to others, who can also choose to take an Electric car from the pool if it suits their needs.

Then you can start offering a special electricity tariff especially suited to electric car users who will be charging overnight and get a commission on use from your supplier of choice.

Then you can offer electric motorscooters and motorbikes and vars and buses.....

I have at least two customers for you already if you are based in West Cork.

And just in case you thought electric cars all looked like motorised shopping trolleys:

Japanese prototype that does 0-62 in 4 secs and top speed of 230mph!


And of course the Tesla:

The Celtic Phoenix

With all the understandable focus on the credit crunch and contracting economy, the interlinked problems of peak oil and climate change have been lost, and they are a big part of the solution. If we are to maintain our current economic model, the government is going to have to pump money into the economy and what better way than with gifts that keep on giving. A new windmill keeps generating revenue year on year, a house whose energy efficiency has been upgraded with double glazing and insulation, not only releases income for alternative spending this year, but next year and the year after. By moving spend from imports, and nearly 90% of our energy is imported, to locally produced energy, this will put money back into the economy. And moving to a sustainable energy infrastructure, which includes generation, distribution, storage and use of energy, will create a wide spectrum of new jobs. from installation of windmills, redesign of products for lower cradle to cradle energy and oil use, software innovation for improving logistics and installing plug in points for electric cars. There is huge potential for new businesses to manufacture wind and wave equipment, manufacture electric cars and increasing cost of transport makes local production more competitive, especially in food production.

Rather than be sidetracked by the possibility of losing advantages over which we have little control, such as incentives for encouraging foreign investment, lets focus on the advantages nobody can take away. Our excellent wind and wave potential, our good agricultural environment, and above all, our ability to adapt very quickly to changing times.

First there was the Celtic Tiger, now there is the Celtic Mouse, but lets awaken the Celtic Phoenix.

Plastic flower more real the real flowers - or visa versa

Took this picture at Liverpool Street station today. The colours are so intense, to my gardeners eye, they appear plastic. But they are real flowers.

It reminded me of the story of a little boy who is shown a real rose plant for the first time. "It's smells like poo spray" he says.

For many people, is their baseline is becoming the artificial version of the natural product?

Tired and Emotional - President Obama

Stayed up and watched the whole election count - didn't go to bed until McCain and Obama had both made inspiring and generous speeches. I had never seen this John McCain, where was he during the elections?

Obama has inspired loyalty and faith in me. Somthing no politician has ever come close to. Whatever happens, he has shown a jaded generation or three that politics can be about more than saying what we want to hear and slagging off the opposition. It can be about bringing us together, all of us, to create something more than we ever could apart.

Congratuations America.